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T O P I C R E V I E W

Robert Pearlman

NASA release

NASA to Build New Stand at Stennis to Test Ares Rocket Engines

NASA will test one of the rocket engines it is developing for its new launch vehicles at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The agency will build a new test stand at Stennis for the J-2X engine. The engine will power the upper stages of NASA's Ares I and Ares V rockets.

Stennis already is home to Apollo-era test stands that have served the nation's space program through the shuttle era. The newly proposed structure will be the first large test stand built at the center since the 1960s. Unlike the older structures, the new 300-foot-tall, open-frame design will allow engineers to simulate conditions at different altitudes.

NASA engineers need to simulate various altitudes to test the J-2X's ability to function as a second stage engine for the Ares I crew launch vehicle and the Earth Departure Stage engine for the Ares V cargo launch vehicle. To do that, the test stand will generate approximately 4,620 pounds per second of steam and use it to reduce the engine test cell pressure.

NASA will complete the new stand in time to support the first J-2X engine test in December 2010. An existing test stand at Stennis also is being modified to test the J-2X engine at sea level conditions.

Ares I will launch the Orion spacecraft, taking astronauts to the International Space Station no later than 2015, then to the moon by 2020. The Ares V will carry cargo and components into orbit for trips to the moon and later to Mars. The new spacecraft are key components of NASA's Constellation Program.

"This new test stand will enable the critical testing needed to verify the Ares I upper stage engine performance at altitude conditions," said Stennis Center Director Rick Gilbrech. "The Apollo-era test stands have served us well over the last forty years, and I'm excited that NASA will have a new stand to help us accomplish these new goals."

The test stand, along with its control center, propellant barge docks and access roadways, will be built in Stennis A Complex.

Robert Pearlman

NASA release

NASA's Stennis Space Center Marks New Chapter in Space Exploration

NASA's Stennis Space Center broke ground Thursday for a new rocket engine test stand that will provide altitude testing for the J-2X engine. The engine will power the upper stages of NASA's Ares I and Ares V rockets.

NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale was joined by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, U.S. Sen. Trent Lott and U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor for the landmark occasion. Also participating were NASA Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Scott Horowitz and Stennis Center Director Richard Gilbrech, recently named to succeed Horowitz, who plans to leave NASA in October. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne President Jim Maser took part as well.

"Groundbreakings are about new beginnings," said Dale. "The first stand was erected at Stennis to test the Saturn V rocket of the Apollo program. Testing of the space shuttle engines began here in the mid 1970s. And today, we're breaking ground for a new test stand, for the new spacecraft of a new era of exploration."

The Ares I and Ares V rockets are being developed as part of NASA's Constellation Program. Constellation spacecraft will be used to send astronauts to the International Space Station, return humans to the moon, and eventually journey to Mars.

"This is our generation's turn, our time to go to the moon," said Gilbrech. "One of the key steps is building the A-3 test stand. The J-2X engine has a unique set of test requirements. The best way to meet them is with the A-3."

Above: Graphic of Future A-3 Test Stand

The A-3 stand is the first large test stand to be built at Stennis since it opened in the 1960s. The new test stand will be a 300-foot-tall, open steel frame structure located south of the existing A-1 test stand. Its 19-acre site in Stennis' A Complex will include a test control center, propellant barge docks and access roadways. The test stand will allow engineers to simulate conditions at different altitudes by generating steam to reduce pressure in the test cell. Testing on the A-3 stand is scheduled to begin in late 2010.

In November 2006, Stennis' existing A-1 stand was handed over to the Constellation Program for testing the J-2X engine. Tests on J-2X components are set to begin later in 2007.

"The engines will be assembled here at Stennis, then subjected to rigorous, expert testing," Dale said. "After that, those engines and the rockets they will power will travel to Cape Canaveral. Then the finished spacecraft will lift off, headed for a new destination and a new era of exploration."

Gordon Reade

Are there any pictures of how the test stand looks today?

Robert Pearlman

The most recent photo that I am aware of was taken in December 2007:

The concrete foundation placed Dec. 18 (foreground) for Stennis Space Center's future A-3 Test Stand has almost completely cured by early January, according to Bo Clarke, NASA's contracting officer technical representative for the foundation contract. By late December, construction on foundations for many of the test stand's support structures - diffuser, liquid oxygen, isopropyl alcohol and water tanks and gaseous nitrogen bottle battery - had begun with the installation of (background) `mud slabs.' The slabs provide a working surface for the reinforcing steel and foundation forms.

Robert Pearlman

NASA release

NASA Awards Construction Contract For Rocket Engine Testing

NASA signed a contract Tuesday with Roy Anderson Corp. of Gulfport, Miss., for a general construction package on the A-3 test stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The five-year, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract's value is not to exceed $45 million. Contract work includes installation of the general mechanical and electrical support for the A-3 test stand.

The A-3 test stand is being built at Stennis to test the J-2X engine for NASA's Constellation Program. The Constellation Program is developing next-generation spacecraft systems to send astronauts to the International Space Station, the moon, Mars and destinations beyond. The J-2X engine will power the upper stage of the Ares I crew exploration vehicle and the Earth departure stage of the Ares V cargo launch vehicle.

The A-3 test stand will allow engineers to analyze the J-2X engine's operating parameters by simulating conditions at altitudes as high as 100,000 feet. For these simulations, the test stand will generate approximately 4,620 pounds per second of steam and use it to reduce the engine test cell pressure.

Construction began on the A-3 test stand in summer 2007, with the first test scheduled for 2012. The structure is the first large test stand to be built since the south Mississippi site was established in the 1960s.

gliderpilotuk

From Bloomberg, NASA will complete the $350 million A-3 stand to test J-2X rocket engines at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi early this year. Then, it plans to mothball the 300-foot-high, steel-frame tower for the foreseeable future.

"Stennis Space Center is the nation's premier rocket engine testing facility," [Senator Roger Wicker] said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg News. "It is a magnet for public and private research investment because of infrastructure projects like the A-3 test stand. In 2010, I authored an amendment to require the completion of that particular project, ensuring the Stennis facility is prepared for ever-changing technologies and demands."

Completing the so-called A-3 tower will cost $57 million, according to [NASA's] inspector general. The agency also plans to maintain it, which will run about $840,000 annually, according to Karen Northon, a NASA spokeswoman.

The A-3 tower is a relic of President George W. Bush's Constellation program, designed to send American astronauts back to the moon and beyond after the space shuttle's retirement in 2011.

cspg

Why build (or complete) something only to have it mothballed right away? What did I miss?

SpaceAholic

Thats the way we roll here in the U.S..the country is so wealthy we can afford to buy 21 military cargo planes at 50 million a piece and then immediately send them to the boneyard.

garymilgrom

An article in the Washington Post tells the story of a recently completed test tower for a rocket that was "cancelled in 2010". I assume that's the Ares rocket but could be wrong. In any event it's an example of how the politicians are driving the bus for NASA's space exploration plan. I'm sure the engineers are as smart as ever and the technology improves daily, but with leadership like this NASA doesn't stand a chance.

Editor's note: Threads merged.

p51

Yes, it seems wasteful to be completing something that you're going to either bulldoze over or send to the storage yard or scrap yard, but these government contracts are set out sometimes years in advance and the money is already spent and in place. If YOU are the company proving the test stand or airplanes, you've already spent that money for the equipment, supplies and people you needed for that.

So, you're left to either complete what you've already been paid for or you don't provide it at all. I'd rather they go with the second option there. At least in the case of the Spartan cargo planes, those could be stored at AMARC and used later.

And yes, it generally works the same way in other countries, too.

Wasteful as it sounds, you'd never be able to get companies to make bids for big projects like this if there was ever a danger that the government one day changes their mind and says, "I know we paid you for this, but stop working right now and tell your workers they're out of a job. Oh, by the way, we also want our money back..."

quote:Originally posted by garymilgrom:In any event it's an example of how the politicians are driving the bus for NASA's space exploration plan.

There's nothing new with that. Politicians killed the last three lunar landings as well, remember?

issman1

By all means blame the politician(s) in whose districts and states the aerospace industries are prevalent.

But the senior NASA leadership back in 2005 was just as culpable with their schemes to incorporate shuttle and Apollo systems into the Constellation architecture.

It would probably have been less expensive to utilize the Atlas 5 and Delta 4 family of launch vehicles. Now we know they were as stubborn as the politicians were (and still are) meddlesome. Constellation may be dead but its legacy lives on and holding things back.

sev8n

quote:Originally posted by SpaceAholic:Thats the way we roll here in the U.S..the country is so wealthy we can afford to buy 21 military cargo planes at 50 million a piece and then immediately send them to the boneyard.